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January 11, 2023
- • Featured • Announcements
Dairy on the Moo-ve - Highlighting 41 NY Dairies!
The New York Animal Agriculture Coalition (NYAAC) is a collaborative group of advocates that builds trust between farmers and their community members. This non-for-profit organization showcases modern agricultural practices in an ever-changing industry by empowering and encouraging farmers to share their agricultural stories. To sustain the future of animal agriculture, NYAAC utilizes its diverse passions to amplify the voices of New York State farmers. With a dynamic staff, farmer directors, and industry professionals, this team effectively networks and builds relationships to raise funds and support for programs that align with the NYAAC mission.
One of the most well-known events hosted by the NY Animal Agriculture Coalition is the Dairy Cow Birthing Center at the New York State Fair. This annual event allows farmers to connect with people disconnected from the farm and those with questions about dairy products, farming, and animal agriculture. Since its inception, the Dairy Cow Birthing Center has impacted millions of people across the country and beyond.
When the global pandemic, COVID-19, began closing the doors of businesses across the Globe, NYAAC knew that an extensive effort needed to be made to continue their advocacy work. In 2020, when the NY State Fair announced the cancellation of the Fair, NYAAC decided to take Dairy on the Moo-ve.
The Dairy on the Moo-ve initiative was created to replace the canceled 2020 Dairy Cow Birthing Center. With the goal of visiting 20 farms in 2020, the NYAAC staff hit the road to share information, live from the farm. This project allowed farms from a variety of regions to showcase their farms, their animals, their employees, and more.
As a result, the online audience loved it! NYAAC reached tens of thousands of people, answered tough questions, and provided a unique experience to viewers. In 2021 and 2022, the NYAAC Board of Directors and staff decided to continue the initiative by visiting farms representing different herd sizes. With similar goals as 2020, the results of sharing the farm, direct from the barn continued to be impactful. .
In total, 41 farms were represented as a part of this project from all corners of the state. The engagement for the online audience was unexpected and very rewarding for NY dairy farmers.
Each farm visit was an opportunity to show people the uniqueness of dairy farms in New York State. The project highlighted farms in 20 counties. The farms visited were home to more than 43,000 mature milking cows in total all of which provide nutritious dairy products to local communities.
It was an absolute pleasure working with NY dairy farmers, seeing their business models, operations in action, and the work they do in their communities.
Click HERE to view each farm we visited!.pdf
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